Kyiv. Ya Gallery Art Center

Zoom In and Zoom Out

Natalia Laluq

01.11.2017 – 25.11.2017

Natalia Laluq

Natalia Laluq displays a remarkable openness in her work, allowing her to create works where the divergent, difficult and opposite are allowed to co-exist.

Exhibition Kyiv Ya Gallery Art Center

While many exhibits attempt to convey the horrors of war, the actual reality of military conflict is very difficult to communicate and thus lost to the viewer. What is also lost in conversations about war and terrorism is how we are to live our everyday lives while the media reminds us of the horrors being enacted in the world. Artistic expression can not avoid these issues. It is naïve to believe that an artist can create apolitical or non-ideological art, avoiding the realities of everyday life.

What is attractive about Natalia Laluq's work is the frankness she conveys in her paintings. She has the unique ability to express her vision using the familiar, using impressions of travel, familiar faces and landscapes. But behind all of the familiar and somewhat nostalgic imagery (many of Ms Laluq's works depict warm vibrant memories) breaking through is the horrors of violence, often distant and sensational.

So what is the connection between these seemingly incompatible images? In the summer of 2015, Laluq's visited Lake Rosseau in Ontario where she created a series of works of joyful figures relaxing by the lake. Several months prior, Laluq had created a series of images based on the photo chronicle of the Garissa University terrorist attack in Kenya, in which she reinterpreted the scenes of brutal death. The bodies of the hostages killed in the attack appear almost the same as those resting near the Canadian lake. In both series, the figures are outlined in red, allowing the context to inform the viewer of the meaning.

One can not convey a “middle ground" in these worlds of extreme opposites. The only possible common ground is mortality of the human body. Laluq has displayed great artistic flexibility and balance which has allowed her to approach this seemingly incompatible task. She has displayed the ability to “Zoom in and Zoom Out", going into the terror and horror and back out to the beautiful and comfortable. This allows the viewer to also zoom into the terror and then retreat to a more comfortable place. Over time this allows one to move closer to acceptance of their own fear and discomfort.

Natalia Laluq displays a remarkable openness in her work, allowing her to create works where the divergent, difficult and opposite are allowed to co-exist.

Polina Limina

Author

Natalia Laluq was born in 1968 in Kiev. Lives and works in Toronto (Canada).

Studied at the Olga Krylova Studio (1983 – 1986). Graduated from the Faculty of Book Design and Illustration, from Kyiv Polytechnic University (1993).

The artist works primarily in painting and ceramics.

Presented numerous solo and group projects in Ukraine, Canada, Germany, USA and other countries.

2001 Laluq received the First Prize of Type Art International Competition in Moscow.

Virtual tour
Author's exhibitions
02.09.2015 – 21.09.2015
Exhibition Kyiv Ya Gallery Art Center